Canyoning. Never Again. Nope.
This summer, wayyyyy before I ever got to Switzerland, I was taking with one of my friends back home about the trip I was going on. She said "you HAVE to go canyoning in Interlaken." So I looked into it about a month ago and it looked awesome! Jumping and repelling through canyons in the mountains. Sweet! But, at the time, I was the only one who wanted to go, so I kind of forgot about it.
Well, it turns out that I should have totally forgotten about it, forever. Not a good experience in my opinion. Maybe that's because I'm not overly keen on jumping into narrow bodies of water surrounded by humongous boulders, and jumping into water that I don't know for sure how deep it is, crawling over wet, slippery rocks, or having to wear a neoprene jacket, wetsuit, second jacket, third jacket, helmet, and lifejacket while trying to maneuver myself through life threatening situations. A combination of all of these just made this whole situation not okay in my book.
Sorry this post started off really negative. I promise, I didn't mean for that to happen. Take this post lightly. There's a ((very small)) part of me that is kind of laughing inside, but at the same time I'm actually still pretty mad, and another part that's just so gosh.darn.happy to be out of that mountain canyon forever and never to return. So, I'm going to write about this experience in an extremely sarcastic tone. Just laugh.
It's worth mentioning that the scenery and the fall colored trees I saw today were really pretty and the train ride was top notch gorgeous. That part of my day could not have been better! I wish I would have taken some photos, but they just don't turn out well when you're flyling by in a train and that awkward reflection of your phone in the train window shows up every photo.
But, I'm still a little bitter about the fact that I'm currently sitting in my room with a bag of frozen brussel sprouts on my ankle, that happens to be huge and swollen.
Now, this situation really stinks for a few different reasons. First of all, if you know anything about brussel sprouts, they kind of smell like fart, and especially after they start to thaw out. Time to throw those babies back in the freezer for a while. Second of all, it's HALLOWEEN, and I am in no shape to go anywhere. Third, it really, like really, hurts to walk. I wouldn't even classify it as a walk, more of a hobble at this point. Ouch. Living in Europe means that walking is necessary for my existence over here. Hoping it recovers quickly! But I am SO thankful it isn't any worse.
Moving on. I pre-ordered this AWESOME video from the canyoning trip today. Here it is, in all it's glory. Now I have this wonderful memory to remind me of all my awkward falls, general awkwardness on video camera, almost breaking my leg off, and that goofy buck-tooth tour guide we had. Ugh. I knew I didn't really trust him. Dang you, Tim.
Pay special attention to about 3:50 in the video where he says "It's getting a big shallow..." Uh, YEAH. Shallow, AKA, probably not a good idea to be jumping into, huh? Sorry, I'll calm down a bit.
I hope this makes your day.
Needless to say, after that experience, I am not about to participate in any activities that resemble canyoning. I learned my lesson, I'm not dumb.
On the other hand, this required a HUGE amount of mental toughness. After hurting myself about halfway through I still knew there was no way out of there but to keep going. I'm proud of myself in that aspect. My arms and left side of my body had to take over a little more as the right ankle was on the struggle bus. Kirsten's inspiration for the day : when you're in a crappy situation, stay calm and just get the heck out of it as quickly and safely as possible.
Getting a Halloween card in the mail from my grandma made me smile again. Have a spooky night and weekend. :)